CCBE aims to solve cross-border insurance problems

The Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe (CCBE) has begun work on defining minimum standards for European lawyers' professional indemnity insurance to make cross-border practice easier.

The moves come amidst long-standing concern about the problems of different indemnity requirements for firms with overseas offices, which often leads to practices having to take out extra local insurance to cover them.

The CCBE began the process with a conference in Brussels last November, and has followed it up with meetings involving law society and bar officials, as well as insurance industry experts, from across Europe.

A steering committee has now been set up, which will also investigate the feasibility of a 'difference in conditions' policy, which could be used as additional cover when the home insurance policy fails to meet the standards of host requirements.